Visible index filing device



y 1931. c. WITTENMYER 1,803,823

VISIBLE INDEX FILING DEVICE Filed Nov. 23, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVEN TOR.

ATTORN May 5, 1931. c. WITTENMYER 1,803,823

VISIBLE INDEX FILING DEVICE Filed Nov. 23, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VEN TOR.

' ATTORN y 1931. c. WITTENMYER 1,803,823

VISIBLE INDEX FILING DEVICE Filed Nov; 25, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

ing one section of'the ing adiifer'ent' part Patented May 5, 1931 i i t;

CARLOS WITTENMYER, F MOUNT CLEMENS, MICHIGAN VISIBLE FILING DEVICE- Application filed. November 23, 1927. Serial No. 235,131.

The present invention relates to visible index filing devices for cards or other records.

Among the objects of the invention is to enlarge the field of use of such devices by making them capable of functions not heretofore' possible.

Anotherobject is a device of the typementioned which can be used for filing loose memoranda and in which such loose memoranda can be easily located.

Another obj ectis such a device having provision for a visible index whether the card titleis at the top or bottom or both.

Anotherob'ject is a device of the type mentioned in Which the records are vertical, visibly indexed, but may be placed substantially horizontal for the purpose of entry without removal from. the holder.

Other object-s will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following'description and accompanying drawings in whicl Fig. 1 is a partial perspective view showfile in fully opened pos1tion;

v Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing such a filepartly closed and showing parts in section;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the drawer;

Fig. 4' is an'elevation of one form of holder;

Fig. 5'is a view similar to Fig. l but showin section; Fig; 6 is an end view of the drawer houss; l

7 shows the connecting link;

Fig. 8 shows the stop member;

Fig. 9 shows bolts for the stop member;

Fig. 10 shows a bottom plate for the stop member;

Fig. 11 is an end of the drawer; v

Fig. 12 shows the drawer when in closed position in its housing partly broken away to show rear portions of the drawer; and Fig; 13 is a view of a slight the universal drawer stop.

As shown in the drawings, the device consists of a housing or drawer holder and a bottomless drawer or slide 21; the former bemodification of and reduced the end having a nut 46.

ted'in member 25 from the rear and ing provided with means of the drawer when the This In to prevent removal device 1s assembled.

eans is shown in F ig. 6 as consisting of tongues 22 formed as continuations of sides and adapted to be turned in at right-angles as shown in Flgs. 1 and 2.

The

drawer 21 comprises two main portions, a stop member and a main portion connected by a swivel tlon may be pulled turned The clear of the housing and over when deslred. stop member consists of the parts shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. The first of these is the rectangular such size as to lit in ing 20,

retaining follower 25 of and slide easily in housand provided with a hole 26 in its front face and holes 27 in its bottom. This retaining follower 25 is secured to a bottom plate 28 slotted as shown at 29 for the reception of the same. ders fit boltsj30 passing through holes 27 into The bolts are provided with shoulting loosely in slots 29 and nuts 31 adapted to screw against the shoulders so as to permit retaining ward or backward follower 25 to move foron plate 28 thereby permitting the front face of the retaining follower to move out to a position flush with the outer edge of by the ends of the plate the housing where it is retained 28 engaging the mside surfaces ofthe tongues 22 at the front corners The main drawer of the housing.

portion 21 consists of a rectangular frame whose front and rear members 35 bottom and 36 are flanged inwardly at the as at 37.

The sides of the drawer 21 are channel-shaped in cross-section, the outer wall 40 of the channel being wider than the inner side 41,-thereof, so that the latters upper edge is lower than the lower edge of the former, upper side.

the channel opening being on the The rear member 36 is provided with a long horizontal slot 42 adapted to coact with one end of the bolt 43 forming the connecting link with the stop above described.

This bolt 43 has its head 44 in the form of a ball slightly larger than hole 26 in member is inser at its other end is provided with a portion 45 fitting loosely in slot 42,

WVhen the bolt 43 joint so that the main por- V secured. in slot 42 by nut 46, the drawer is permitted a lateral movement, may be rotated and inverted on its longitudinal axis, and may be swung at an angle for purposes to be mentioned later.

Hinged in the channels 40 are two L-shaped locking plates 50, having their flanges turned inwardly and located a little below the upper edge of wall ll. These plates 50 are provided at their forward ends with ears 51 through which they are connected by means of links 52 to a centrally located lever 53, one plate being connected to the top and one to the bottom of the lever, which latter is provided with a spring 5 1 connected to front member 35 and arranged to hold the plates in their inner position. Lever 53 may be provided with any suitable manipulating means such as the rod 55 attached thereto and projecting thru the front of the drawer, the rod bearing on its forward or face end, a knob 56 to be grasped by the operator.

The form of drawer just described is designed to be used with a card holder or pocket such as shown in Figs. 3 and 1.

In Fig. 3 a flat pocket of suitable material is shown at 60, supported on a wire or rod 61 which is bent near its ends to form U-shaped portions 62 with the extremities 63 of the wire brought back to alignment or substantially so. Also mounted on rod 61 between the portions 62 is a pair of spacers Gel consisting preferably of small cylindrical pieces of wood. Inthis form of record holder, records may be entered on the outside and/or detached memoranda may be placed in the pocket, and in order to facilitate finding the latter, the pocket is notched as at 65 so that such memoranda may be seen or discovered by running the finger along the series of notches where the pockets are hanging in the position shown in 2, the pockets being open at the top. If desired this end of the pocket may be left open (not shown) so that the records when found may be withdrawn therefrom using the same hand.

Fig. 4 shows a similar record holder intended for cards. In this form, a frame is supported by a rod 61 and other parts as in Fig. 3. The frame 70 is of U-section to embrace the edges of a card 71 and is either cut away on one side at the bottom as at 72 or made of transparent material to render visible the lower edge as indicated.

These record holders are of proper width to drop down between the channels 40 with the U-portions 62 of the rods resting upon the walls 11. In this position, the flanges of plates 50 will overlie the extremities 63 of the rods 61 and hold the record holders in place. 7

As it is intended that the record holders shall lie substantially fiat when the drawer is within the housing 20, it is obvious that the foremost holder 60 must be no closer to the front 35 of the drawer 21 than a distance equal to the vertical dimension of the holder 60. In order to insure this relation, a stop member 80 is provided on one or both chan nel members 40 it being pivoted at 81 to allow its rear end to drop under rod 61 when the front or handle end thereof is elevated as shown in dotted lines to allow moving the holders forward to permit insertion or removal of a holder or insertion or removal of matter from. a pocket.

Fig. 13 shows a modified form of swiveled connecting link. In this form, the stop member is of the same construction as that already described except that the hole 26a is keyhole-shaped to permit ready insertion of the ball head of link 1364 and the latter is provided at its other end with a small pulley 46a adapted to roll on a trackor guide in the form of a wire stirrup or loop 42a secured across the rear member 36a of the drawer 21. These parts have the same functions as those described above and are intended to permit the rotation or inversion and swinging of the drawer as Well as allow a sidewise movement.

In the operation of the device, one or more of the record holders is placed in position in the drawer as shown in Fig. 2 with the drawer partially or completely withdrawn from the housing. When the drawer is pushed into the housing, the holder will be swung to approximately horizontal position as their lower portions strike the bottom housing 20. Withdrawal of the drawer permits the holders to swing into the position shown in Fig. 2. In the latter position, the upper margins of the holders are all visible to the operator. Reversal or inversion of the drawer to inverted position by rotating as aforementioned permits the holders to lie substantially flat on each other and thereby render the lower mar: gins of the holders visible. This reversibility of the drawer allows ready access to either side of the card as well as allowing indexing of the latter on both sides thereof.

It will thus be seen that either of the horizontal edges of the record holders is easily visible and that, while the latter are normally vertical when the drawer is out, they may be placed horizontally for the purpose of new entries or other consultation.

It will be noted from Figures 1, 5 and 13 that when the drawer is pulled out of the housing to permit its reversal, it will drop down to almost vertical position. I11 such position, the entry or change of the records may be found inconvenient due to the position of the drawer. In order to permit use of the records comfortably and conveniently without withdrawal and dropping of the drawer to this position and in order to prevent its dropping to this position inadvertently, a suitable catch or intermediate stop (not shown) may be provided if desired to prevent the rear end of the rectangular frame 21 leaving the housing unless the intermediate stop or catch is voluntarily foiled.

N ow havin described the invention and the preferred forms of embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that the said invention is to be limited not to the specific details herein set forth but only by the scope of the claims which follow.

I claim 1. A filing device comprising a housing, a bottomless drawer adapted to slide in and out of said housing, record holders carried by said drawer and adapted to be suspended from the side members thereof, and means supporting the drawer in a manner permitting the inversion thereof without its being completely detached from the housing.

2. A filing device comprising a housing, a bottomless drawer adapted to slide in and out of said housing, transparent record holders carried by said drawer and adapted to be suspended from the side members thereof, and means supporting the drawer in a manner permitting the inversion thereof without its being completely detached from the housing.

3. A filing device comprising a housing, a bottomless drawer adapted to slide in and out of said housing, record holders carried by said drawer and adapted to be suspended from the sides thereof, securing means for said holders, means whereby said securing means may be released and means to return the last-mentioned means automatically to holder securing position.

4. A filing device comprising a housing, a bottomless drawer adapted to slide in and out of said housing, a stop member for preventing complete rem-oval of the drawer from the housing, record holders carried by said drawer and adapted to be suspended from the side members thereof, and means supporting the drawer in a manner permitting the inversion thereof without its being completely detached from the housing.

5. A filing device comprising a housing, a bottomless drawer adapted to slide in and out of said housing, a stop member for normally preventing complete removal of the drawer from the housing, but from which said drawer may easily be detached, record holders carried by said drawer and adapted to be suspended from the side members thereof, and means supportin the drawer in a manner permitting the inversion thereof without its being completely detached from the housing.

6. A filing device comprising a housing, a bottomless drawer adapted to slide in and out of said housing, a stop member for preventing complete removal of the drawer from the housing, record holders carried by said drawer and adapted to be suspended from the side members thereof, and means supporting the drawer in a manner permitting the inversion thereof without its being completely detached from' the housing, said I 7.. A filing device comprising a drawer housing and a bottomless drawer therefor, and record holders of greater depth than the depth ofsaid drawer suspended from the side members thereof by means permitting swinging of said holders up into the plane of said drawer.

8. A filing device comprising a drawer housing and a bottomless drawer therefor, record holders of greater depth than the depth of said drawer suspended from the side members thereof by means permitting swinging of said holders up into the plane of said drawer and spacers on said holders, whereby when the latter are swung up a considerable portion of the upper margin of each holder is visible.

9. A filing device comprising a housing, a bottomless drawer slidable therein, and means supporting the drawer in a manner permitting the inversion thereof without its being completely detached from the housing, record holders of greater depth than the depth of said drawer suspended from the side members thereof'by means permitting swinging of said holders up into the plane of said drawer, and spacers for said holders whereby a considerable portion of the uppermost margin of each holder is visible in either position of the drawer.

10. In a filing device, a bottomless drawer comprising a rectangular frame having channeled side members, record holders adapted to rest on the inner walls of said channels and means within said channels adapted to coact with the ends of said holders to retain them upon said frame.

11. In a filing device, a bottomless drawer comprising a rectangular frame, record holders suspended between the side members of said frame and movable lengthwise thereof and means to lock said holders against movement into a portion of the frame.

12. In a filing device, a bottomless drawer, means supporting said drawer in a manner such that the drawer may be inverted on said means, record holders suspended from the side members of said drawer, and means adapted to secure said holders against falling out when said drawer is inverted.

13. In a filing device, a record holder comprising a pocket having a notch in one vertical edge whereby the contents are exposed and having an edge open to facilitate withdrawal of records.

14. A filing device comprising a housing, a drawer adapted to slide in and out of said housing, record holders carried by the sides thereof, securing means for said holders, means whereby said securing means may be released and means to return the last-mentioned means automatically.toIsecuring position. u

15. In a filing dance, a. drawer comprlsing fchanneled side members, record holders adapted to rest on the inner Walls of said channels and means Within said channels adapted to coact with the ends of said holders to retain them upon said walls.

CARLOS WITTENMYER. 

